Description

Do we need archaeological theory or is ‘common sense’ enough? This fundamental question once posed by Matthew Johnson in his textbook Archaeological Theory seems to be answered now positively: we do need it. One reason is that we do no longer accept an empiricist point of view, the facts do not speak for themselves. No archaeologist can think about the past independent of his/her own cultural background, political perspectives, national context. So it is better to accept that they influence thoughts and to identify them. Thus archaeological theory is not just about the past, it may even be more about the present.
Moreover, if archaeology claims to be a scholarly activity embedded in society it will have to confront its results with contemporary fundamental discussions about the nature of society. These days we find ourselves in a situation where there is no longer a single paradigm guiding all of the archaeological interpretative work. The postmodern ‘anything goes’ seems to be the prevalent stance in the theoretical debate.
So we are left with fundamental questions: what theory to use? How does theory relate to my pottery, postholes and architectural remains? Should I be a value-free scholar, can I be a value-free scholar? And how feasible is it, intellectually, that archaeology is changing from being part of the Enlightenment project towards being part of the industry of identity politics?

In this course we do not claim to deal with the whole of archaeological theory but will deal with a number of hotly debated topics after an introductory class. This year’s class will deal with the following themes:

Introduction (Versluys)
1. The archaeology of the individual, personhood and agency in the postmodern age (Theuws)
2. Exchange and economy of the past in the neoliberal age (Theuws)
3. Globalisation and archaeology (Versluys)
4. Materiality (Theuws)
5. Style and identity (Versluys)
6. The spatial turn in archaeology (Versluys)

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Course objectives

Development of in-depth knowledge of the most important issues and debates in current archaeological theory;

Critical view on these issues and debates in current archaeological theory;

Evaluation of the relevance of these issues and debates for his/her own research.

Contractonderwijs: all information (costs, registration, entry requirements, etc.) for those who are interested in taking this course as a Contractstudent is on the Contractonderwijs Archeologie webpage (in Dutch).

Contact information

Remarks

This course is taught in blocks 1 and 3. If you are starting your MA-programme in September, you take this course in block 1. If you are starting your programme in February, you take this course in block 3.